The Experiences of Nurse Managers Providing Support to Nurses with Illness

Abstract

Aim: To understand the experiences of nurse managers when they support nurses suffering from an illness.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 nurse managers who had experience supporting nurses with an illness. We asked them to speak freely about what happened when they provided support to nurses and the thoughts that occurred to them at the time. We categorized their narratives using a qualitative induction method.

Results and consideration: The experiences of nurse managers providing support to nurses with an illness were divided into eight categories: "I valued the nurses who worked hard despite being ill," "I performed services beyond my capacity as a nurse manager and was closely involved in the nurse's care," "Illness experience makes sense for nurses," "I had to try different strategies to keep an appropriate distance from the staff," "I faced inadequate responsiveness as a nurse manager," "Aware of the difficulty of individual intervention according to the condition of a disease," "I strived to build an organizational culture that manages illness along with work," and "I continued to manage the ward smoothly while consulting with around." The nurse managers were grateful to nurses who were able to work despite being ill. However, they struggled to build relationships and maintain a reasonably professional distance with their staff. Additionally, to manage human resources who could provide nursing care with guaranteed safety and quality, we worked in cooperation with related departments to create an organizational culture that would allow nurses to work while being ill.